John managed to get a placeholder on the blog site, stating the computer issues we were having last night, and being unable to post this week’s blog, which was otherwise ready to go.

He left at 6:30 a.m. today to go work on a WTA project at Ira Springs, about an hour and 20 minutes from home, across Snoqualmie Pass and north of I-90. Sadly, he left his lunch behind, so I hope they have drinks and snacks for him to get by John Clark (another Orange Hat) donated a banana, and the crew leader had water and multiple mini-bars of candy. He could have received more but did not need more.

Here are some of the photos from the day’s work:Before and after turnpike work – 10 years of wear, fixed.The middle photo is John giving the tool use & safety instruction at the beginning of the workday. Either side of that are photos of his team of 3, plus him. Tina left, Katerina & son Samuel, right.Whole crew with finished project; John & Katerina, & Bill.

Finally, the funny shot of the day:After lunch, Travis, Evonne (the crew leader), John and Bill – both from Ellensburg (Orange hats – Assistant Crew Leaders).
I worked on sending videos up on “WeTransfer” to share with the CWU Recreation & Tourism folks and their professor, David Rolfe. I also worked on doing all the other needed things on my computer, particularly the July music prep to get off to Evie (my cohort music score checker).

I spent time on the phone with friends, sending birthday and anniversary wishes via Jacque Lawson’s UK card site, washing dishes, and eating lunch. Mostly, I worked on music the rest of the afternoon until John got home. We ate supper, and then tried to post the blog. WordPress was choking. It is out there now, but only partially proofed. At first, not all the photographs would “go in,” and then we kept timing out. I tried fixing a few things, and with prayers and his help, we got most of it in, we think. Now I just finished going through the whole thing, and it will remain as posted. I think we got the major problems fixed.

I have been working on the July music, on both laptop computers, and will continue tomorrow.

Thanks to all our military personnel who have protected our freedom throughout the years.
Sadly, this morning, our dear friend, Paul Swanson, passed over the rainbow bridge. His birthday was the same as John’s, but many years earlier. He was a veteran and a schoolteacher. I got to know him in our exercise class at the senior center, when I met him and his wife, Gloria, in 2010. She is still my sidekick every Wednesday, when she accompanies me to the Food Bank Soup Kitchen for music, and then afterwards, we go to SAIL exercise class.

John spent the morning before it got to 90° watering our garden, plants, and trees. I alternated between music prep for July, washing dishes, and killing flies (they’re coming in through the doggie door).

I sent the AAC Wild West BBQ dancing videos to the WeTransfer site. They went up while I was in town. When I got home, I sent the download site to the people at CWU and will send to the AAC.
Changed my nancyh@cwu.edu password. Yes, I still have an email there that I have had since 1988. I am one of the few in the University ever to have such a short “name.” My reason was interesting, but multi-nice. The names used to be the first 7 letters of your last name and first initial if less than 8, so mine would have been hultquis@cwu.edu. Luckily, I had to transfer across BITNET (precursor of the INTERNET) my data from the University of Idaho, where I was for 15 years. BITNET limited me to a username of only 6 characters – hence, nancyh. I was not the only Nancy “H” at CWU, and many times I got emails intended for Nancy Howard, whose username was howardn, not nancyh. She was never happy about that, but it amused me, with her being on the administrative side. Now the system has advanced, and while the same old usernames still exist, I can now be reached at nancy.hultquist@cwu.edu (and everyone in the university has access to their full name, 1st and last, connected with a “dot.”)

We plan to go to the south side of town to pick up rubber bands from a friend, and boxes for another friend. The RBs are to give to our newspaper delivery person to put on the papers, particularly when wrapping with plastic during rainy or snowy weather. We ended up with 11 unfolded boxes piled in the back of John’s car for our friends moving to Eugene.

We checked our number at Bi-Mart. Checked and nothing, bought some eye moisture drops, and looked for dye for doing John’s orange shirt, but they did not have the color in stock. We have decided against trying to dye the shirt. It is sun-bleached and likely would not look any better for the effort.

We were scheduled at our eye doctor for an annual exam at 2:15 and 2:30 at Valley Vision on Dolarway Rd. We got there ahead, in time to fill out a lot of paperwork, but we were still late getting into the testing. I was first. We have known my left eye would require after-surgery work, but now we are nearing the time to schedule it. My surgery was 20 years ago, and I now have clouding showing in my left eye’s vision and my eyesight is down to 20/30 in that eye. The Optimap screening shows a floater, but it is out of my vision. My capillaries are in good health. I will use the Internet to try to explain below what is necessary. The “operation” is simple, requires no sedation, and is a permanent fix to restore the sight in that left eye. The longest part of the procedure is the dilation (with drops) before laser beaming. It is an in-office procedure using laser beams to break up the membrane, while eye is dilated. The actual “beaming” only takes about 15 minutes. It is covered by insurance and apparently an easy fix. No restrictions on lifting after; maybe only a day or two of administering eye drops.

I looked on line and found the following information. I have rewritten parts and copied others, without notation. I’m practicing, “omit needless words.”

Why is laser treatment sometimes needed following cataract surgery?
Developing posterior lens capsule opacification (PCO) following a cataract surgery is common. Opacification means, “becoming opaque.” PCO is a complication that causes the back of the lens capsule (holding the artificial intraocular lens in place) to thicken and creates cloudy vision. Laser treatment is the fix.

The PCO procedure makes a hole in part of the back of the lens capsule such that the light can once again pass directly to the retina. This procedure is called Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy. The type of laser used for this treatment is an Nd:YAG; sometimes it is just referred to as just ‘YAG’.

How does the laser work?
Lasers are beams of energy that are very accurately targeted. The Nd:YAG laser uses very low energy levels and can delicately cut the lens capsule without any risk of damage to other parts of the eye.

What are the risks of laser treatment?
The laser procedure is considered very safe. Although there are some risks, serious side effects are very rare.

For some people, laser treatment for PCO can cause eye pressure to rise (mine is currently 18). Rarely, laser can cause a retinal detachment that can happen days, weeks, or months after the treatment. These risks are extremely rare complications. The vast majority of people get an excellent improvement in their vision following laser without experiencing any issues.

What happens during laser treatment?
In most cases the doctor will use an eye drop to dilate (widen) the pupil before laser treatment. This usually makes vision more blurry. Once the pupil is dilated, one’s head is placed on the headrest of the laser machine to keep the head and eye still while the doctor uses the laser to remove part of the capsule. The doctor focuses the laser exactly onto the back of the lens capsule in order to cut away a small circle shaped area. This leaves some of the capsule to keep the artificial lens in place (as a cuff around the lens), but it removes enough in the middle to allow light to pass directly through to the retina.

The very small part of the lens capsule cut away falls to the bottom of the inside of the eye where it eventually breaks down. The laser uses a wavelength of light that cannot be seen, but one may notice a red light that helps the doctor focus the laser beam. Each laser pulse is over in a fraction of a second and one should not feel any pain or discomfort. A person may notice a few flashing lights or hear some faint clicks coming from the machine as the laser works.

What happens after laser treatment?
It may take a few days for sight to become clear again, and ‘floaters’ may occur after the laser treatment. Floaters are harmless clumps of cells that move around inside the vitreous (a jelly-like substance that fills the inside of the eye). Because the laser treatment does not require any incisions or stitches, returning to daily activities is normal.

What about my sight?
After this treatment, sight should be restored to the level existing after the original cataract surgery, provided no other problems have developed in the eye.

Changing subjects to an inanimate one: The Handle Saga

The top part of a 2-piece lawn mower handle broke where it bolted on to the bottom section. Sears stores do not stock such things. It had to be ordered and shipped. It was shipped from a Sears facility in southern Idaho. The town was not one I, or John, knew. That’s why I say “southern,” ’cause I know the towns in the north. It was shipped via Sears – but the web site did not explain, and now, it no longer shows the town name. (Or maybe not – no one seems to know.)

It went to Salt Lake City – that is the wrong direction, but next, it went to Colorado – Denver area. Still wrong!

Next it went to Dallas, TX and on to a suburb called Mesquite. Sears transferred the package to a UPS truck. It is now 1,600 miles from its destination.

Now the “backtrack” – It went back to Dallas, and on to Vernon, TX. That is 175 miles northwest of Big D. Then through NE New Mexico, I think, but that’s a guess. Englewood, CO is the next stop, just south of Denver. On to Commerce City, CO. , just north of Denver. Now back to Salt Lake City. And on to Heyburn Idaho, south-center of ID, and then to Nampa, 24 miles from Oregon. Next stop was Hermiston, OR. {Cantaloupe country} This is about 125 miles SE of Ellensburg via Interstate 82. But, the next stop was Spokane, WA – 170 miles northeast of EBRG.
Finally, to Ellensburg. Then out to the Naneum Fan, 11 miles northeast of the UPS facility. It took 8 days to get here: ordered May 22; arrived May 30. GUESS WHAT ! It was the wrong part.
John reordered, but the replacement part, while it came faster, is also wrong. I had taken the first part and shipped it back from the UPS store (at Sears cost). John has printed the label to return it. [While the Sear’s site showed it going on a return trip, it might not have. It could be the initial posting was the reverse of the expected trip, starting in Dallas. Odd.]

Thankfully, we were given another lawnmower by friends who are moving to Eugene when their house sells (see that story below). John has been able to continue mowing, but he is many days behind.

I spent time on the phone with several people but the last was the longest and most frustrating, trying to get Satellite Radio on John’s car. Turns out the Crosstrek model he has is not equipped with the possibility to receive it. We now have to find an XM Radio Kit for an affordable price. I did talk the person down to $25 for a 6-month subscription, but currently we have no way to receive it.

I picked up Gloria and went to the Food Bank Soup Kitchen, for music and food, and on to SAIL class. I left class early to meet friends in the parking lot to deliver 11 boxes for their moving needs. As we were moving the boxes, Phil offered me their self-propelled push lawnmower. At Gloria’s house I visited a bit with a mutual friend who had come by to express her sympathies and to bring some goodies for her to give other visitors. The celebration of life will be in Kittitas, at the New Life Assembly Church Saturday at 11:00 a.m.
I came home by my neighbors and had a short visit with folks there.

Came in and tried to relax after a restless night’s sleep. John spent a lot of time in the yard today, planting, cutting, watering, and trying to fix the broken handle on the mower via a splint. That worked, but not well. The one Sears sent did not fit, so he talked to the repair people and they will pay the postage to return the wrong part they sent (took 8 days) and hopefully send the correct part. We now know they again sent the wrong part.

Meanwhile, I told John about the offer of the lawnmower and he accepted – so I called to set up a possible pickup tonight. We did. It’s an older but very nice machine. See below on Sunday.

I went to the UPS store, sent the box back to Sears, and got a receipt of proof.

I went to the Rehab for music. We had a great turnout of players and audience, with 6 folks participating singing in the audience, and several without lyrics, from memory. I don’t always take a lot of copies there because most residents are not able to be very involved. We even had a visitor, who walked over from next door at Meadows, where we will be next week. She is Mary Lou Gilmour (whose family used to own Mr. G’s grocery store) kitty-cornered from Lind Hall where I had my office for 9 years until moving to Bouillon.

I went by AAC to see Erica and deliver a package.
We went to a great presentation tonight by an Oceanographer:
John Delaney, University of Washington.Here is a summary. The well being of all life on earth depends on our planetary ocean. The ocean also plays a key role the health of our global economic framework. Yet, most citizens of the world do not appreciate the ocean’s interactive complexity, the diversity of its utility, and its underlying influence on past, present, and potential future, cultural-societal changes. The powerful roles the ocean plays in terms of human history, trade, commerce, resources, hazards, science, education, warfare, defense, the arts, entertainment, modulation of our climate, and the search for life beyond earth, are largely unrecognized by most members of our global society.
Since Herodotus (440 BC), humans have looked at history as an ensemble of stories about city states and nations vying with one another for dominance, using warfare and trade to punctuate the signal events viewed as turning points over the millennia. With few exceptions, human history focuses on unfolding events on continents, yet as far back as the origin of life on earth, the ocean has profoundly influenced the evolution of life, as well as culture, on our home planet.
This presentation explores and expands on these and related themes with the goal of developing an integrated awareness of the central, interconnected functions that our global ocean basin plays in our planetary society of nations and individuals.
If you want to download the videos, you only have 7 days, until June 8th from this link. It won’t cost you anything but time and an Internet connection. It has taken my computer over 4 hours to transfer the data, but it will not take that long to download it to your computer. I’m doing the upload while I sleep.

Download:Link-DO THIS DOWNLOAD BY JUNE 8 when they’ll disappear
There are 5 files there, almost 3 gigs, and the last two are missing a tiny bit because my battery ran out and I had to replace. It will take about 50 minutes to download unless you are on a faster connection than I am.

11:30 Father’s Day lunch at AAC. We had a baked casserole of French toast with blueberries (warm) compote, fresh strawberries, peeled hard-boiled eggs, granola, and yogurt. A storyteller and her son joined us for the program afterwards.

A collage of the food: Granola, Yogurt, Strawberries, grapes, Cream Cheese on mini-bagels, Baked French Toast, with warm Blueberry Compote.

Before my SAIL class, I went down to deliver and pickup some stuff from a friend. After exercise, I dropped by the front desk at the hospital to get my recent medical records of the blood draw to take to my cardiologist next week.

I took some stuff by to Gloria’s, and ended up staying awhile to help her get on her email and also onto Facebook to check for things from her niece, who started an account for her on Facebook. She hasn’t been able to access her email recently. I sent myself a photo sent to her and printed off to take to her tomorrow at the celebration of life, along with my other sympathy letter.

11:00 celebration of life, Paul Swanson, New Life Assembly Kittitas Church, 210 Main St., Kittitas, WA. Clearly, this was the best Celebration of Life service, I have ever attended.

It started with driving to Kittitas and looking at the clouds on the horizon. I saw some wave clouds and tried stopping for a photo, but did not succeed in getting the view I wanted. I proceeded into town, and when I got to the church, there were the wave clouds above the church ! Wave clouds (bottom left) and above the church (right), 6-3-17.

Compare this to a photo I put in my sympathy letter to Gloria & family and what I wrote beneath it.December 22, 2007 from the Naneum Fan of the Kittitas Valley _ Special Waves

Love, hugs, and sympathies from Nancy & John Hultquist in Ellensburg, WA – please remember the good times, as that’s what he would want! Great memories shall abide with you and us all, forever, with his spirit always close by. There are many hours you shared over the years, with fun travels, stories and family events, and many other happy memories, reflections, experiences, and especially laughs and smiles shared through your lives with him. Those happy memories and recollections will help tide you all over the rough waves, although it will be difficult. He will be with you always in spirit and in your memories, and he will have reunions with those relatives and friends whom he loved and have preceded him to heaven. He will be there to greet us all, when we arrive, and will show us around the clouds, as the angel he is. Much love and wishes for happy memories.

I have noted Links numbered below 1-3, which are my picks for people who only want highlights of the service, but the whole list is for family members.

New this week: Evening Grosbeaks at the feeder.Just after taking that, I went out with John for him to lift the canopy so I could take a photo of the wood we picked up last night from Evie in Kittitas. They tore down an old deck and wanted to get rid of the lumber, mostly 2x4s. Filled the back of our truck.

Later in the day, John mowed in the wind. We had gusts to 40 mph.On the left is out front in our orchard, where you can see not all has yet been mowed. The middle and right are behind the house, with the right showing the entire cutting back toward the creek (over the hill), and around Jay’s Folly. John wishes he had some youngsters (not really; androids maybe) to help with the chores around here.

We have to defer our Brittany report to next week. We are out of time and energy and space, but we have had some wonderful training shots of our Brittany, Daisy, in CA. Those of you on Facebook have been able to enjoy all week, so next week here will be a review.